Graham,
Very interesting article on makeing synthetic castor from cheap vegitable oils, from my vague recolections of high school chemistry the detergent acts as a catalyst to the oil and glycerine to increase saturation of the fats in the oil, it also hydrates the fats when combined with the added water , thus giveing the cheap vegi oil the properties of castor- how fully is beyond my science.
But the question is does this new oil readily disolve/go into solution with just kero or does it also require ether to become soluable ?? The ingrediants to make this syn castor are certainly cheap enough to produce a cheap alternative to castor, and are available EVERYWERE.

Andy,
this syn castor process is the opposite of what is done to produce bio diesel, the by products from which are glycerine and water. So in effect we could first make our bio diesel then take the by products add these to more vegi oil to make our lube. then we would really smell like the local fisn n chip shop or burger joint
Stewart